Galaxy Nexus ROM Review: Codename Android v1.1.4

When I first bought my Galaxy Nexus I was thoroughly impressed. In fact you can read both mine as well as other authors’ 24 hour and 48 hour initial thoughts on the matter. As I used the phone more and more I have found that the one aspect of the phone that really got me down was the battery life. Even with the extended battery I still had to plug the device in about half way through my day just to make it through the rest of my work day and I’m not even in a 4G area.

I went through the process of rooting the device, perma-installing Clockwork and backing up my stock ROM and that was it. I still suffered through horrid battery life. While yes Samsung does pledge to bring better battery life and an extended battery helps, I was quite sad at the matter.

Well it wasn’t long after the release of the Android 4.0.3 images that ROMS were popping up. While I was hesitant to flash anything to my device, not because I was scared of ROMing such a ROM friendly phone but because I love stock Ice Cream Sandwich, the battery life was a big issue. I experimented with a few ROMs, GummyNex, AXI0M 2.3 and Tranquil Ice v6 to name a few and I found that while battery life was better, it still wasn’t good enough for my liking.

The ROM of Choice

While searching through various kernel and ROM lists my editor stumbled upon Codename Android 1.1.1. That was the latest version at the time but as I am writing this I am on version 1.1.4. I spent some time reading the forum for various bugs and issues and I found that this one had the least amount of problems. The ROM boasts that everything you want in a ROM is in this one ROM. As the developer puts it:

“Codename Android is a fully open source rom that focuses on speed, usability, and getting every feature that we can get CRAMMED in there”

After downloading the ROM, the Gapps (1.14.2012) and at the time, the Franco Kernel I was ready to flash and install.

The Set-Up

As usual I wiped all data and factory settings, plus the cache and Dalvik cache and flashed the ROM followed by the Gapps package, and finally the Franco Kernel. Sadly at the time I hadn’t backed up any of my apps with Titanium Backup so I had to reinstall all my apps. After that I spent some time getting all my screens back to the way I wanted. Surprisingly, even with downloading all my apps I only used about a quarter of the battery.

It took some time to get all my accounts set up and what not but the ROM adds some amazing features.

A while after set up, Yes it was -11 out.

The Features

The ROM adds some nice features to an already impressive OS. There are now new options in the settings menu that allow you to customize the lockscreen, adding more shortcuts and so on, all the way up to the addition of well, additional softkey mods (see picture below). You can turn off the persistent search bar for extra screen space; add up to 7 total home screens, and even the ability to resize widgets.

Battery Bar and Custom Softkeys

It also adds the ability to customize the pulse notification light without a special app like Lightflow. You can change colors duration, etc. I love the ability to add toggle switches in the notification bar, even the LTE toggle. You can customize which toggles you want too. This added with the performance and battery life of the ROM coupled with the Franco Kernel creates an over all awesome experience.

Custom Options

The Performance and Battery Life

The amazing thing about this ROM is everything seems quicker. I don’t know if you folks noticed but there is some lag time between selecting the camera on the lock screen and it loading up. This is gone, much to everyone’s relief. Menus were snappier and navigating just seemed quicker. Transitioning from one page to the next in the app drawer was smoother as well. NFC works as well, and Google Wallet comes pre-installed with no need for fancy hacking or modding skills.

Battery life on the ROM with the Franco Kernel installed was quite phenomenal. While I don’t have 4G in my area, we’ll get to the 4G later, I was able to get over 16 hours worth of battery life with heavy use on the extended battery (see below). By heavy use I mean six 20 plus minute phone calls, constant emailing, texting, and Internet browsing, plus Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies gaming. That amount of usage would have me plugged in and charging after about 6 hours on Stock ICS. The 16+ hours of battery life has become a daily occurrence and I can safely say that I can go through an entire day without worrying about bringing an extra battery or charger along with me everywhere I go.

Not bad for a day’s worth, with juice to spare

Now I know I am not in a 4G area and for those of you that are, this isn’t a fair representation. However my editor Stacy Bruce has the same ROM installed. He has the Faux123 Tuna Kernel installed because he found that it had better battery life on a 4G connection than the Franco Kernel did. In fact you can see from the image below that he was able to get over a day’s worth of use with mild use. According to him mild use includes “a bunch of emails, couple texts, 2 downloads, 8 pictures (no flash), 20 min of Shine Runner and about 20min of web browsing.”

Stacy was able to suck every last bit of juice out of his battery.

The Conclusion

This ROM has been amazing. I installed it over a week ago and I haven’t looked back. Battery life is a huge driving force for me in choosing and keeping a ROM and part of it is thanks to the kernels flashed. Codename Android keeps the stock appeal but adds some much needed functionality and customization to the Galaxy Nexus. Coupled with battery life you have before you a super amazing ROM.

For me this ROM is as close to stock as you can get but with the option to throw in as many goodies and customizations you can to your heart’s delight. If you want a ROM with really good battery life I would recommend this ROM whole-heartedly. While other ROMS with the same kernels probably have the same performance, the ability to customize this ROM without the need to flash various mods makes this ROM complete. You will find below a link to the ROM, and both kernels for your flashing pleasure and if you haven’t rooted your Galaxy Nexus you can do so by going here. Enjoy!

Jack is a tech enthusiast who is surviving small-town Wyoming. He's a newspaper editor by trade and a blogger for fun. His phone of choice is the Galaxy Note 4 and when he's not tinkering on that, he can be found researching new tech and wondering if his wallet can sustain a new tech purchase. When he's not in front of a computer, he's out in the mountains with his dog exploring the wilderness.

Coumbaya

I’m like you, at first I had a shitty battery life, then I installed Android Revolution HD (a quite simple rom, based on the stock kernel & rom) BAM, double battery life. I’m considering switching to Codename Android for the added features… The thing I lack the most is the “power bar” that I got on CM7, where you could disable gps,wifi, etc. on the notification area.

I’m.running it now with Franco kernel. Works like a charm and it’s very fast and responsive. I will see how long the battery lasts but so far so good!

Joshlewis87

Do you live in Billings MT?

Android

Anyone having camera quality issues halo blur not as sharp? And performance settings is missing and that cool clock widget? Other that that the rom is very smooth

Jack Holt

The Clock Widget, is Beautiful Widgets with an ICS skin

http://androidcruze.com/ Geetha

Any one can try this or only nexus devices ? And the looks are great.

mwy1205

Will this work on Nexus S 4G?

Jack Holt

Right it’s only for the Galaxy Nexus, with the older Nexus phones slated for a release sometime soon.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_74SOMECDVFME7E7MMQGNWD2EHI geman

I installed this yesterday,and works great.In the setting`s,I sure can`t find the performance tab.What am i missing here? I looked on RootzWiki and found nothing.
Thanks

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_74SOMECDVFME7E7MMQGNWD2EHI geman

i found the answer

http://twitter.com/LucasNJohnson Lucas Johnson

Thanks so much for the article! All this talk about performance and bettery life pushed me over the edge and i finally unlocked, rooted and ROMed. I couldn’t be happier… N64oid runs buttery smooth now! so does everything else.. and battery life is fantastic.

Clmaiden316

I just rooted a couple of days ago and im thinking this might be the first rom i try

Greg

How long does it usually take to flash the Codename ROM and the phone restart?

eddol20

how do i get my verizon apps ….

Calsport27

I rooted and flashed this rom because of your review. This was my first and I’m loving it. Two questions.
1. I can’t seem to find Google wallet, am I missing something?
2. What clock widget are you using in your screen shots because it is sexy? Smooth and simple.